Laika Come Home
Laika Come Home is a dub reworking of twelve tracks from the Gorillaz's debut album, Gorillaz. It was remixed with many new instrumental parts recorded by the 'Spacemonkeyz'; a trio of musicians, including the Gorillaz tour turntablist. However a whole host of guest musicians also contributed additional instrumentation to the record, notably reggae artists U Brown and Earl 16. 2D himself even made new instrumental contributions to many tracks, and recorded a new vocal part for M1 A1, which also features Terry Hall. The Spacemonkeyz originally remixed just one track ('Bañana Baby', which would was referred to as 'Tomorrow Dub' initially) which appeared on the Tomorrow Comes Today single release, but Damon liked the result so much he gave the go-ahead for a whole album of dub reworkings. The Spacemonkeyz certainly know their dub; even seasoned reggae fanatics have been known to admit that 'Laika Come Home' 's sound is truly authentic, and the Gorillaz songs for the most part lend themselves excellently to this treatment. The fan reaction was mixed; for many young fans this departure from the Gorillaz usual sound was too much, and the soundscape was too sparse. And of course not everyone likes dub reggae in any case. In spite of this many fans did rate the album, at least as a soundtrack to a chillout session. Damon, reknowned lover of World Music must surely have taken pleasure at the thought of so many Gorillaz fans being introduced to the world of Dub in this way. The standout track 'Lil' Dub Chefin' ' (originally M1 A1) was lifted from the album for a single release in the UK. This release has always been referred to as officially by 'Gorillaz Versus Spacemonkeyz'. The title of the album is another space-themed joke, playing on the title of the famous movie 'Lassie Come Home' but replacing Lassie with Laika, the first dog in space. All of the tracks on the album similarly have archly punning or jokey titles which make reference to the song of which they are a reworking. Release dates and chart positions UK: 01/07/02 (highest chart position: did not chart) US: 01/07/02 (highest chart position: did not chart) JAPAN: 16/07/02 (highest chart position: did not chart) FRANCE: 16/07/02 (highest chart position: did not chart) Track Listing #"Jungle Fresh" - 5:28 #"Strictly Rubbadub" - 3:41 #"Bañana Baby" - 5:29 #"Monkey Racket" - 5:57 #"De-Punked" - 5:20 track itself #"P.45" - 4:26 #"Dub Ø 9" - 5:17 #"Crooked Dub" - 5:31 #"Mutant Genius" - 5:02 #"Come Again" - 6:04 track itself #"A Fistful Of Peanuts" - 5:53 #"Lil' Dub Chefin'" - 5:42 track itself 'Hidden Tracks: ' 13."More Rubbadub" - ("Strictly Rubbadub" other version) - 5:15 track itself 14."More Peanuts" - ("A Fistful Of Peanuts" other version) (Limited Edition only) - 6:39 track itself Trivia * At various points in Phase 2, it has been stated by Murdoc that the album was not actually created by the Gorillaz. In fact, he often claims that a bunch of escaped lab monkeys broke into Kong Studios and recorded tracks during the band's absence from the studio. Impressed by the monkey's recordings, he decided to release the compilation as an album under the Gorillaz name. Category:2002 albums Category:Gorillaz albums Category:Laika Come Home Category:Music